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SMITH, ABNER. - Born at Orange, Mass., in 1843. Son of Humphrey and Sophronia (Ward) Smith. His parents came
from old New England stock, whose ancestors had come to America as early as 1649, settling in Cambridge, Mass.
Mr. Smith received a very liberal education, eventually graduating from Middlebury college in 1866. He began life
as a teacher and in that capacity was in charge of the Newton Academy at Shoreham, Vt., until he came to Chicago
in 1867. As a student Abner Smith was a substantial and reliable young man, evincing the possession of abilities
which would enable him to rise above the average in whatever profession he might choose to follow. He took up the
study of law, and has in that field fully sustained the early impressions formed of him. Soon after coming to Chicago,
he entered the law office of J. L. Stark, and applied himself so diligently to the study of his profession that
he was admitted to the bar of Illinois in 1868, and soon after became a partner of Mr. Stark's under the firm name
of Stark & Smith. This firm continued until the death of the senior member in 1873, when Mr. Smith succeeded
to the business, retaining a large majority of the firm's clients. He now enjoys an extensive practice in the state
and federal courts. He is the attorney for the National Life Insurance Company of Vermont, and for various other
corporations. Mr. Smith is a stockholder in the Duluth & Winnipeg railroad and was at one time one of the directors
of the North Star Construction Company, which built and is operating that railroad. In private life Mr. Smith is
literary in his tastes, which is shown by a large and well selected library; he is a gentleman of fine address,
and a pleasant companion, fond of music and the fine arts, and, away from his business, he devotes much of his
leisure time to literature and science. He was married October 5, 1869, to Miss Ada C. Smith, daughter of Lorenzo
Smith, of Shoreham, Vt.
FROM:
The Handbook of Chicago Biography
Edited by John J Flinn.
The Standard Guide Company
Chicago 1893
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